Apparatus for refining loaf-sugar.



No. 717,838. PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903. M. GEVERS. APPARATUS FOR REFINING LOAF SUGAR.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 19, 1902.

2 SHEBTS-SHEET 1' N0 MODEL.

WITNESSES:

A TTURNE Y8.

In: "ll-RM! warns on. momu'mow wwmaron. 11c,

No. 717,838. ,7 PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903.

M. GBVERS.

APPARATUS FOR. RBFINING LOAF SUGAR. I

APPLICATION FILED JULY 19, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

/1 ,{f w m me.

win/5885s.-

7mm fi fly V I X- 5 nrroeuzys.

' NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAURICE esvsas, OF ANTWERP, ELGIUM.

APPARATUS FOR REFINING LOAF-SUGAR.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 717,838, dated January 6, 1903 Application filed July 19,1902 Serial r5. 116,178. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom, it 11060; concern:

Be it known that I, MAURICE GEVERS, manufacturer, a subject of the King of Belgium, residing at Antwerp, in the Kingdom of Bel 5 gium, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Refining Loaf-Sugar, of which the following is a specification.

The dilferent methods of refining loaf su gar at present in use present considerable inconvenience, the conical shape of the loaf producing lnuch waste when cutting up the sugar, or the inefficient manner in which the massecuite is submitted to the action of the cleare, which acts alternately or simultaneously on the hardest and on the most porous part of the substance, according to the process employed, and, in addition, the complication of the material employed, to which it was inevitable to have recourse hitherto in order to obtain rectangular tablets, owing to the difficulties encountered in removing these tablets from the molds, the said material possessing besides its complexity the serious inconvenience of allowing large quantities of cleare to pass freely through without useful effect (1 uring the expulsion of the green syrup.

In the annexed drawings, which represent a form of apparatus suitable for carrying out the invention, Figure 1 is a plan view, partly in section, of a box for forming the cakes. Fig. 2 is an elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of thecentrifugal, showing the boxes in their places therein for the operation of decoloring. Fig. 4 is a plan view, partly in section, of said centrifugal. Fig. 5 is a front view, on a larger scale, of one of the recesses or chambers for receiving the boxes. Fig. 6 is a corresponding horizontal section.

In order to prevent waste of the conical cakes, they are molded in the boxes 1, presenting the shape of a parallelepiped rectangle, and to prevent waste of cleare produced in the boxes of this kind already known and those provided with plates and combs intended to facilitate the subsequent removal of the cakes these parts are dispensed with and the masse-cuite allowed to flow directinto the boxes, which are supplied with special means, hereinafter described, for permitting the removal of the cakes after the decoloring. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, these means consist, essentially, in forming the box 1 in two parts 2 and 3, each forming one side and one end of the box, and arranging them exactly one against the other at diagonal edges 4 and giving said two parts a suitablerigid connection-for instance, by means of a clamp 5, provided with tenons 6, each entering a cor responding groove 7, provided in the two adjacentvertical faces of the parts 2 and 3. The tenons 6 are preferably slightly conical for producing a certain tension in the connection. The clamps-5 are in addition provided on each side with tongues 8 to determine the exact placing in position and entering of the parts 2 and 3. Each of these parts is provided on its interior upper parts with grooves 10 for reception of iron plates or partitions 11, determining the thickness of the cakes. These partitions 11 can be arranged, as shown in Fig. 1, across the width of the box in proportion to its length, according to the required size of the cakes to be produced. Each box is provided at its upper part with a rim 9, having a preferably conical edge 12, Fig. 2, the corresponding part of each clamp 5 also having apart of this kind, so that each of the boxes is provided for the whole of its circumference with a conical border the purpose of which will be explained hereinafter. The centrifugal apparatus employed in combination with these boxes is similar in general to the apparatus generally used-that is, it has an exterior drum 13, into which a perforated basket 14.-

.is placed for reception of the boxes containing the solidified masse-cuite. This drum is put in motion by a shaft 15, operated in any convenient manner. This shaft, however, traverses the drum for its entire height, for purposes which will be explained below, and has bearing in a bracket 16, situated outside the apparatus, above the basket 14. According to this invention the basket 14 is provided exteriorly with a series of recesses or cham bers 17, each serving to receive a box. These recesses'are produced by the uprights 18 occupyingthe free space existing between two adjacent boxes 1, placed inthe basket, and by the cross-pieces 19, placed at the bottom of the basket, and cross-pieces 20, connecting the interior edges of uprights 18 at their upper part.

In the example represented two uprights or adjacent parts form, in conjunction with 1 he cross-pieces l9 and 20, a rectangle or framing for each box, as shown in Fig. 5. The uprights 1S and the cross-pieces 19 and 20 present an inclined surface 21, in which is a groove for reception of india-rubber or other elastic material 22 of rectangular section, constituting packing on which the conical part 12 of each box rests after its introduction into the recess formed by the uprights 18 and the cross-pieces 19 and 20. In practice the crosspieces 19, forming in the center of the centrifugal a regular octagon, (when the basket is intended to hold eight boxes,) can be fixed by any convenient means at the bottom of the basket, and the cross-pieces 20 can be bolted, for example, to the uprights 18, which may be formed in one with the basket and can be attached to it.

Between two concentric uprights 18 and against the outside walls of the basket at the bottom of each recess are placed perforated plates 23, forming a movable bottom to the boxes,the construction of which is well known.

-Above the cross-pieces 20 is fixedfor instance, by bolts 24-a plate or circular cover 25, (shown in plan view in Fig. 4,) extending toward the center of centrifugal at a certain distance above the inner edges of boxes 1 to prevent the cleare flowing above the recesses 17 or the boxes contained therein on rotation of the basket. This cover 25 is provided at its part adjacent-to basket 14 with openings 26 to permit the perforated plates 23 to be easily taken out and replaced.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood, the working of the process and the method of employing the turbine will now be described in detail.

To fill the boxes 1, a certain number are placed one above the other, the bottom part of each resting on the edge 9 of the box immediately below, preferably after interposition of an india-rubber ring or other suitable substance betweentwosuccessive boxes. The masse-cuite is then left to cool in the superposed boxes. It is obvious that since the masse-cuite flows in the same manner into the different boxes all the latter after solidification of the mass will have the most porous part (or foot) at the side where the border 9 is and that one will not have, as when employing conical boxes, the porous part of the mass (foot) and the hardest part (head) alternately at the same part of two successive boxes. When the masse-cuite is solidified, the boxes are transferred to the centrifugal. Owing to the extension of the shaft 15 through basket 14, the latter has in its central part between the inner edge of plate 25 and said shaft 15 an open space 27 large enough for the introduction of the boxes, which are then each introduced horizontally into the recesses or chambers 17in such a manner that the edge 12 bears slightly against the rubber packing 22, placed in the groove of the frame formed by the uprights 18'and cross-pieces 19 and 20. In this position the boxes do not extend to the perforated plates 23 at their exterior sides next to the rim of basket 14, nor

' do they come in contact with these plates ,un-

til the centrifugal has been put in motion,and the centrifugal force which tends to push them back outwardly forces the boxes to press the packing 22 by the conical edges 12. After a box has been placed into each of the chambers of the centrifugal the liquoring takes place in the latter Without slackening the speed. It is evident that the cleare cannot find any other passage except across the boxes, each of the latter efiecting through the rotation of the centrifugal an automatic joint or packing in its recess, as will be understood. On the other hand, in each box itself the cleare will not find a free passage, as was the case before when using boxes provided with plates and combs, since the masse-cuite adheres directly to the walls of the boxes in the present case. The liquoring terminated, the

boxes are taken out of their recesses, and it is then a question of removing the tablets from the boxes. To attain this, it is suflicient to withdraw the two clamps 5 by sliding them vertically with their tenons 6 in the grooves 7 of the walls 2 and 3 by hand or a suitable tool, as indicated by arrow 28 in Fig. 2. On the clamps being withdrawn the box is divided into two parts 2 and 3, and the tablets or cakes are withdrawn at the same time as the partitions 11. A very simple method of taking the cakes from their molds is thus obtained without any waste, and, on the other hand, it is obvious that owing to the arrangements described all the objects aimed at and referred to at the beginning of this specification are obtained, and all loss of cleare is prevented in the centrifugal, due to placing the boxes into recesses in whichthey form a perfect joint. The masse-cuite is always presented to the action of the cleare at the most porous part, while the green syrup is regularly expelled from the hardest or head part of the mass. Infact, no loss of cleare whatever can take place in the boxes themselves, these admitting no plate which could form with the socalled walls of the boxes passages through which cleare could escape without exercising its useful effect.

In the description above described the connection of two parts of the boxes has been represented as being eflfected by special clamps. It is,however, evident that we do not intend to confine ourselves to this kind of connection or to the construction described of the recesses or basket of the centrifugal, as these can be either made in one with the basket or constructed by means of the several separate pieces connected into a suitable shape.

- What I claim is- 1. The box to be used on centrifugal machines formed of two parts each forming one side and one end of the box and a rigid con- IIO nection holding the two parts together substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

2. The box to he used on centrifugal machines formed of two parts, each forming one side and one end of the box, a rigid connection between the two parts of the box and a rim 9 at the upper part of the box, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

3. The box to be used on centrifugal machines formed of two parts each forming one side and one end of the box, a clamp; tenons provided on said clamp, grooves provided in the two vertical faces of the parts of the box and in which the said tenons areadapted to engage and a rim provided with a conical edge at the upper part of the box and clamp, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

clamps in a direction longitudinally of the 7 joint, substantially as described.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

MAURICE GEVERS.

Witnesses:

GEORGE BEDE, GREGORY PHELAN. 

